A Look at the Mass: The Kyrie

There was a time not so long ago, in which some priests and deacons were infamous for the verses they would create in order to introduce the Kyrie at Mass. My favorite is still, "You are the air beneath my wings, Lord have mercy." Thankfully, with the new translation of the Roman Missal and a return to faithful adherence to liturgical rubrics and principles, these "innovations" seem to be dying out.

Unfortunately, what is not dying out in many places, is a desire to rush through the Kyrie at light speed. While this is not particularly surprising, considering the mentality that Mass must end within a set time frame and a desire to please people with short Masses, it is still problematic. Now, as always, I'll preface myself by saying I agree with having a general Mass time frame, for example 30 minutes for a daily Mass, I don't like when it becomes restrictive (with the exception of medical reasons or a worker's Mass). The latter reason, of trying to please people with short Masses, is a fairly bad idea for reasons that hopefully speak for themselves, but in case they don't I'll elaborate.

I believe that most priests are not haters of the Liturgy. Rather, they love the Sacred Liturgy. Additionally, they love their people. The problem, by my estimation, seems to have arisen somewhere with the idea that these two ideas need to be opposed to each other. There is an ever-growing desire in our culture for convenience, and with this comes a hatred for waiting. Waiting means we don't get what we want exactly when we want it; our gratification is delayed. 

Convenience in and of itself is a good thing, and there are things which we shouldn't have to wait for. As an example, it is reasonable to expect to be paid on time for one's labor. A person is obligated to receive that, "A laborer deserves his wages (1 Timothy 5:18)." Convenience, however, does not extend to things we are not obligated to. The powers that be can decide for themselves how convenient they wish to make obtaining their goods. I think of tickets to a Nebraska Cornhusker football game. Anyone who has tried to get those knows they aren't particularly convenient to get; it generally requires a great deal of money and/or contribution on one's part. However, no one really expects that they will be convenient, and no one I've met really seems to have a problem with it.

The same concept applies to the things of God. God is not obligated to us; it works vice-versa. Therefore, God is perfectly in His right to make us wait, and when He does, because He is a loving Father, it is always for our good.

Now to bring this full circle. As I said, we have obligations to God and part of that is fulfilling our Mass obligation. Nevertheless, the Church imposes the obligation on us because it is for our good. We need to spend time worshiping God, for if we fail to do so, our spiritual lives will undoubtedly fall apart. Priests, then, need to see that their love for the Liturgy is not incompatible with people's desire for convenience. Ultimately, it would be more convenient for people to see a reverent celebration of the Eucharist so that they will realize the importance of what is happening.

There should be no rush, then, to "get through" the Kyrie, for it is a moment of great importance in the Liturgy. It is the final part of the Penitential Rite where we beg mercy for our souls, but it is also a moment in which we place intercessions before God. The Kyrie came into this part of the Liturgy as intercessory prayer. Before beginning though, we must call to mind that the Kyrie is a litany, albeit a short one.

Now, litanies within the Church are a form of intercession. Whether the cry be for mercy, as in the Litany of the Sacred Heart, or for prayers, as in the Litany of the Saints, or for specific intercessions, litanies are asking for something. Within the early Mass liturgies, intercessions were done in the spot where we currently have the Prayers of the Faithful in the Ordinary Form of the Mass, but instead of the form "Lord, hear our prayer," which we commonly use, they used the form, "Lord have mercy." I should note this is still an optional response for the Intercessions. By the fifth century, it is clear that instead of the spot after the readings, which the litany occupied, it instead moved to the beginning of Mass, right after the Introit (in the Roman liturgies).

This litany, which prayed for the entire Church using various petitions, would also be done in the various Offices of the Day, especially Lauds and Vespers. However, it was shortened in the other, shorter, Offices so that only, "Kyrie eleison" is used. It also seems to have formed the basis for other litanies, especially penitential ones, which were prayed throughout the West. Interestingly though, Pope St. Gregory the Great seems to have greatly modified this litany; he included a response of, "Christe eleison," and limited the intercession formula, such as, "For the Church of God...," to only be done on feasts and in solemn celebrations. On ordinary days, it was limited to simply, "Kyrie eleison," and, "Christe eleison." On these occasions, the Kyrie would be intoned by the schola and then repeated by the people. However, when a litany would be done before or follow in the Mass, such as ordinations, the Kyrie would be omitted. Jungmann notes this as, "In all these instances there is a survival of the original form of the Kyrie as part of a larger, more complete form of prayer (339)."

Eventually, in order to combat the continuing struggle against Arianism, the West developed the idea of invoking God the Father three times with, "Kyrie eleison," God the Son three times with, "Christe eleison," and God the Holy Spirit three times with, "Kyrie eleison," although this had been done in many other places already, especially in papal liturgies. The importance of the standardization was the theology behind it. 

All the foregoing bears upon our understanding of the significance of the Kyrie because we need to see it as not only a plea for mercy, but also as a transitional prayer. Last week I discussed the first two options of the Penitential Rite (here). Well, after we have admitted we are sinners in need of God's mercy, we do not only continue to beg God for mercy with the Kyrie, but we also are petitioning God to have mercy on the entire Church, since the Mass is a public prayer. We pray for ourselves, but we also pray for the needs of all Christians and for the whole world. Our petitions, which we include within the Kyrie in the silence of our hearts, prepare us to pray in union with the celebrant the petitions of the Collect, which sum up all the prayers of the Mass liturgy. 

There are also two other points which I must point out. The first is the third option for the Penitential Rite, which I feel we must view slightly differently than the other two, since the Kyrie is combined with the confession of one's faults. The general text is:

Priest/Deacon: "You were sent to heal the contrite of heart: Lord, have mercy."
People: "Lord, have mercy."
Priest/Deacon: "You came to call sinners: Christ, have mercy."
People: "Christ, have mercy."
Priest/Deacon: "You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us: Lord, have mercy."
People: "Lord, have mercy."
Priest: "May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life."
People: "Amen."

This form seems to be based off a more Medieval form of the Kyrie, which used, for musical purposes, phrases preceding the Kyrie, such as, "Light and origin of light, highest God, have mercy; Lord have mercy (Jungmann, 344. Translation mine.)." The invocations may also be preceded by many other options, found within the Roman Missal.

Our thoughts during this, must be of our sinfulness, for it is preceded by the same invitation to call to mind our sins as the other two options. However, the Kyrie itself functions as the confession of faults as well as maintaining its intercessory nature. Although there is no explicit confession of faults, though, instead we are invited to recall the redemption wrought by Jesus' becoming man and dieing for our sins. We acknowledge our sinfulness in the fact that we recall how Jesus became man in order to redeem us and in acknowledging our need for His mercy. The absolution which then follows holds the same significance as discussed in the previous post on the Penitential Rite.

The second point is the reduction of the Kyrie to a sixfold petition in the Ordinary Form from the nine-fold petition of the Extraordinary Form. While the nine-fold petition perhaps emphasized the Trinity more clearly, this has certainly not been lost in the reduction. We may say that we petition God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for mercy with each set of the invocations. The difference, by my judgment, is that now our "litany" is led by the sacred minister, whereas in the Extraordinary Form, there was a Kyrie litany prayed by the celebrant and ministers alone and another sung by the schola. The emphasis that our prays are being publicly collected now, is perhaps clearer in the people's inclusion with the sacred ministers.

Finally, the Kyrie should also be considered a preparation not only for the Collect, but also for the Gloria on feasts and solemnities. We must also consider the Kyrie a prayer of praise and adoration. God is merciful. He has no need of us, yet He created us and bestows unending blessings upon us in His infinite mercy. We should view the Kyrie, then, with the thought of Gueranger:

"The three invocations, each repeated thrice over [remember he wrote during the time when the Extraordinary Form was the only form in the Latin Rite] . . . are like a telling us of our union, here below, with the nine choirs of Angels, who sing, in Heaven, the glory of the Most High. This union prepares us to join them in the Hymn which is now to follow, and which these blessed Spirits brought down to this our earth (Dom Prosper Gueranger, The Holy Mass, Section: Kyrie. Emphases in original.)."

All historical information taken from:
Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development. Volume 1. Part III: Kyrie Eleison, 333-346. Translated by Rev. Francis A. Brunner, C.SS.R. (Christian Classics: Notre Dame, Indiana, 1951).